Wal-Mart plans tighter rules for gun sales

RobertDaniel

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer and the largest U.S. seller of firearms, plans a series of new measures to track gun sales.

The chain's chief compliance officer, J.P. Suarez, appeared in Washington on Monday with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a national gathering of the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, media reports said.

The effort, the group said in a statement, accords with a 10-point code "that will help ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands." Wal-Mart
WMT, -0.30%
based in Bentonville, Ark., has signed on to what the group calls the Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership. Read more.

Wal-Mart's moves will include video recording gun purchases and archiving them should law-enforcement authorities need the records later.

The retailer also will create a system that will alert the company if a gun sold at a Wal-Mart store is used in a crime. And Wal-Mart will do criminal-background checks for employees who are authorized to handle and sell guns, and it will tighten inventory controls, the group said.

Suarez said in the group's statement that Wal-Mart's customers include "many hunters and outdoorsmen." He said the new policy "is a way for us to fine-tune the things we're already doing and further strengthen our standards. We hope other retailers will join us in adopting the code."

The National Rifle Association responded to the initiative, saying that the moves won't reduce crime. "Mayor Bloomberg has long confused his New York City mayoral podium for a national bully pulpit from which he feels entitled to push his personal gun-control agenda outside New York City," the group said.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns was based on an April 2006 meeting of 15 mayors led by Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. The group's goal, its website says, is to crack down on illegal guns. More than 300 U.S. mayors are now affiliated with the group.

Intraday Data provided by SIX Financial Information and subject to terms of use. Historical and current end-of-day data provided by SIX Financial Information. All quotes are in local exchange time. Real-time last sale data for U.S. stock quotes reflect trades reported through Nasdaq only. Intraday data delayed at least 15 minutes or per exchange requirements.